OUGD406 Studio Brief 03 Reflection On Strengths and Weaknesses

We recently had the final crit for our alternative poster designs. I found that because of my particularly illustrative style my deign possibly lacked a bit of impact compared to the other designs. I have taken this into account and have decided that I will attempt not to define my self thrum this illustrative style but rather attempt to create something that is completely right for the brief. In this instance a higher impact piece would have been suitable because of its use as a film poster.

OUGD402 Brief 01 The Layout Conundrum

I have been attempting to break the enigma of grids during my design principles brief 02 work, in which we have been set the task of creating a set of layout with publication a fore thought. To do this I have attempted to create my own grid on which to set the content. I have struggled continuously through this brief, the subtleties of layout completely hidden from me. Yet as I have repeated and repeated processes and, to be honest, continuously failed, I have been noticing increments of improvement and slowly but surely the discipline of the application of grids is opening up to me. More than anything this is the most satisfying type of learning and the reason I enjoy Graphic Design so much. it is a labour of love and something I personally have to work very hard to improve in but when that improvement is made it is all the more satisfying. Although I know my final layouts will not be of a professional level, they will be good for me... what more can you ask for?

OUGD402 Graphic Design for Life

When Vanessa and I got together to discuss what we might do for our graphic design for life brief we found we would really need to cut our message down to one thing from our manifesto to give the design coherence. We decided to focus on the importance of drawing in the design process. We felt this fitted in really well with the graphic design for life theme because one thing that a graphic designer will always use, throughout their life is a pencil. Ideally we wanted to send him numerous branded pencils but because this design has to be sent as an email attachment we had to rethink this. We were considering the way that submitting something in a digital setting does't foster a longevity in design so it could be something printed out or something useful in a digital context. We then thought of the idea of creating a desktop image that conveyed our message so that he would look at it every day. We wanted to represent the idea of a lifetimes worth of pencil in the design so we came up with this so far.

OUGD406 Studio Brief 02 Type & Eye Blog

Through this brief a few other students and I have put together a typography blog. I have found that I love doing everything involved with this; the writing about design the contacting people and the researching up and coming designers. In the end I love talking to passionate people about something i love and writing about great design is very similar to this for me. This blog is something I foresee my self doing far beyond the end of my degree. I hope so anyway.

OUGD406 Studio brief 02 Contact with Professionals and Students PPP Brief One

We made contact with Sean McCabe, Ahoy Studios and Osar Wilson.

Hello there!
We are a group of Graphic Design students at Leeds College of Art and we are trying to create a viral campaign exposing interesting typography. We absolutely love your work with type and type as image. Would you be happy about us using some of the images from your website to do so? we will of course include a link to your website.

Yes, sounds cool. Please add links and send me what you’re doing

We would also love it if you could answer just a few questions about your typographic practice:

1.Could you tell us about something your working on at the moment?

Nothing type-wise at the moment but just finished a new Puma store in Cape Town with my brother Ben, (Wilson brothers) and our friends at Brinkworth, - opened last night

http://www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk/
http://www.benwilsondesign.co.uk/
http://www.brinkworth.co.uk/

2.Could you explain the design process you go through, is type the first thing thought off?
3.Where do you draw your inspiration from when choosing type?

All my type is hand-drawn, so the image I am working to (usually a photographic ref) is the first point in the process

4.Could you suggest a designer that has inspired you?

Gordon House (link is to his prints, but seek out his 60’s graphics work for artists shows / catalogues. He was a friend and mentor)
http://www.gerrishfineart.com/browse.asp?types=House%2C+Gordon+%281932-2004%29&reset=1

5.What is your favourite font at the moment?

Nothing in particular, I only really use ‘working’ fonts for email and invoices, everything else is hand drawn

6. you'r work has an obvious influence of 60's typography would you say its important to have a specific style of work? 

I guess so, to get noticed / stand out, but important that the style can evolve and change with time to keep it interesting (for me)

Thank you so much for your time, we really appreciate any wisdom you can share,
hope to hear from you soon.

PS: I went to Leeds too, Is Mick Marston still there?
please send my best regards if so

Ahoy there,

Thanks for getting in touch! Certainly you can post some of our web images on the site you're developing, but please do credit them properly and send me the link sometime! I'm curious what you're coming up with! You may have to take screenshots though.

Answers to your questions below.

Good luck with your project! It's nice to see young designers passionate about design and in particular typography!

Connie Koch

AHOY STUDIOS 

456 BROADWAY 3FL
NEW YORK NY 10013
PHONE 212.645.0565
FAX 212.807.7004

WWW.AHOYSTUDIOS.COM

On Mar 4, 2014, at 1:03 PM, Type & Eye <typeandeye@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello there!

We are a group of Graphic Design students at Leeds College of Art and we are trying to create a viral campaign exposing the amazing typography going on in the UK and beyond! We love your  type when it comes to branding and publications. Would you be happy about us using some of the images from your website to do so? we will of course include a link to your website.

We would also love it if you could answer just a few questions about your typographic practice:

1.When approaching a brief how much time do you spend considering the typographic aspect of the designs?

Typography is the pride and joy of our work as designers, so we dedicate a lot of time not only to the initial type selection, but also to its continuous development and refinement. Great typography is the key to successful design, and it is not only about display type, but also the treatment of body copy and all other text elements. Crafting all this information into a beautiful type composition is never done quickly.

2.Have you attempted designing a font? and what are the difficulties you have encountered in doing so?

Yes. The biggest challenge is to create a harmonious flow of the letters in relation to each other.

3.Where do you draw your inspiration from when illustrating type?

The streets of New York and Berlin. Art books and beautifully designed books and magazines. 

4.Could you suggest a designer/illustrator in this area that has inspired you?

Today, Bridget Riley, Urs Lüthi, Arboretum by David Byrne.

5.What is you favourite font at the moment?

Voice bold condensed. Beautiful narrow display type for large, loud headlines.

Type & Eye typeandeye@gmail.com	6 Mar (3 days ago)
to Connie

Hi Connie,

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. We are just getting off the ground with a blog which draws attention to great professional and student work, and provides some guidance for creative students in general in the area of typography, with hint, tips and resources. I have included a link on the blog and I hope everything is ok. If we have done anything you are even a little bit unsure of please let us know. We are only first years and are just getting to grips with the design world in general! we also have twitter and Facebook, please look us up.

Thanks again, it so nice that professionals such as your self take time to respond to students all the way in distant Leeds!

Beth from Type & Eye

OUGD402 Personal and Professional Practice Seminar Manifesto

We started out this session with some presentations by a couple of third years, detailing their personal and professional practice manifestos. They used the manifesto to define who they were as designers and how this has shaped what they want to do with their design skills; such as moving foreword with design, doing something new or wanting to change the world. 
We were then challenged to find out what the first things first manifesto was without googling it. i went and asked a second year and found out that it was a list of beliefs and self appointed rules that designers decided on in 1964, this was a time when graphic designers were advertisers to a great extent and this meant that they became tired of the consumerism and vacuousness of design. They outlined that they wanted ethics and morals to apply to graphic design and creative practices in general, in short applying an honest purpose to the practice. 

We were then asked to pair up and produce a manifesto between us detailing our own personal approach to the motivation behind our design process and practice. Me and Vanessa came up with the following list.

1. Design that makes consumerism bearable.
2. design that has a clear, concise and intelligent thought process behind it.
3. Design that effectively communicates a message to its chosen audience.
4. don't follow trend, do what you believe to be right.
5. Drawing during the design process is imperative. 
6. respect the rules of design enough to break them in the right ways.

We then got the brief:

To use this manifest to create a piece of graphic design that Ian Anderson would want to keep for life. the obvious first stage of research for this brief would be to research Ian and what kind of design he is involved in. I will then look into further analysing the items in our manifesto and if they give any hints as to a definite direction to go in.

OUGD406 Studio Brief 02 Further Responses PPP Brief One

We have just received another reply to our request (Craft design), and with full answers this time that will be perfect for our 'interviews with professionals section!

Beth

That's a great idea to promote the course and yourself. Good luck

Of course you can use images from my website and send through a link to whatever you are creating.

My answers are below in green.

Look forward to seeing the campaign.

Jon Banks

Creative Director

Craft Design & Direction

www.workbycraft.co.uk

+44 (0)7515 344 211

On 27 Feb 2014, at 20:34, Beth Taylor <bt250877@students.leeds-art.ac.uk> wrote:

Hello there!

We are a group of Graphic Design students at Leeds College of Art and we are trying to create a viral campaign exposing the amazing typography going on in Leeds. We love the typographic work You are doing at the moment and want to shout about it. Would you be happy about us using some of the images from your website to do so? we will of course include a link to your website.

We would also love it if you could answer just a few questions about your typographic practice:

1.When approaching a brief how much time do you spend considering the typographic aspect of the designs? For me the type is the most important element, so about the same time as the idea. If the type is bad people will pick up on this and it will distract you from seeing the idea.

2.Have you attempted designing a font? and what are the difficulties you have encountered in doing so? Yes, I've designed a few. The main issues are the more complex letters like the S. &. G. Also you must always remember to do all the punctuation.

3.Where do you draw your inspiration from when designing type? Everywhere really, I look at type on anything. I find that fashion publications tend to push the boundaries with unusual, interesting typography.

4.Could you suggest a designer in this area that has inspired you? Richard Bassett, Thompson Brand Partners

5.What is you favourite font at the moment? F37 Bella

This is so exciting, and the responses he provided are really great both for us and those who will read our blog!

OUGD406 Studio Brief 02 Contacting Studios PPP Brief 01

A part of an idea for a viral campaign we (our group) wanted to create a typography website that gives exposure to students work in the discipline, looks at what professionals are doing at the moment and interviews them to get advice and guidance in the field. To get a head start on this we sent out a few emails to start a dialog with a few studios and individuals we were interested in.

The email we sent out to three different studios can be found below.

Hello there!

We are a group of Graphic Design students at Leeds College of Art and we are trying to create a viral campaign exposing the amazing typography going on in Yorkshire. We love the typographic work Magpie are doing at the moment and want to shout about it. Would you be happy about us using some of the images from your website to do so? we will of course include a link to your website.

We would also love it if you could answer just a few questions about your typographic practice:

1.When approaching a brief how much time do you spend considering the typographic aspect of the designs?

2.Have you attempted designing a font? and what are the difficulties you have encountered in doing so?

3.Where do you draw your inspiration from when designing type?

4.Could you suggest a designer in this area that has inspired you?

5.What is you favourite font at the moment?

Thank you so much for your time, we really appreciate any wisdom you can share,

hope to hear from you soon.

Out of the three we contacted one got back to us, Magpie comms.

Hi Beth,

Good to hear from you and it's great you want to showcase Magpie's work.

I will refer you to one of our design team to answer your questions.

Good luck with your campaign. It sounds great, and we'll look our for it once it's launched.

Becky

Becky Edlin

Director

Magpie

We hope to hear from them soon as to the questions because it would help us fill some of the interview space on our website.
We intend to go on with this but from a specifically named email with shared log in so that each of us can make contact with as many people as possible. We have also used this email as a template for others but we will make sure that we will alter it enough to make it personal as well.